What is a LINE OA and what can shop owners do with it
Many Thai shops land their first customers on a personal LINE account, until one day hundreds of messages arrive and separating customers from friends becomes impossible. LINE's answer for businesses is the LINE Official Account, or LINE OA. This guide explains what it is, what shop owners can do with it, and how to get started.
What is a LINE OA
According to LINE's official features page (in Thai), the LINE Official Account is an official account for businesses that helps shops build a follower base to send marketing information, promotions, and communicate with customers one on one. Businesses manage it via the LINE Official Account Manager website or the Official Account app, as stated on the official page.
What makes an official account different from a personal LINE account is that it is designed for selling from the start: tools for greeting new customers, automatic replies, broadcasting news to followers, and handling chats with many customers in an organized way.
What shop owners can do with it
1. Greeting and automatic reply messages. Shops can create greeting messages and automatic replies, as listed on the official page. We cover setup and examples in our article on greeting message examples for new LINE customers.
2. One-on-one customer chat. Customers message the official account, and the team replies from a computer, with each customer's conversation clearly separated.
3. Broadcasting news to followers. Send promotions or shop announcements to all followers at once. Details are in our article on using LINE OA broadcast, and message quotas are summarized in our LINE OA message quota article.
4. Coupons and reward cards. Distribute discount coupons or point cards to followers, a feature listed on the official page, encouraging repeat purchases without building a system yourself.
5. Rich Menu in the chat window. Create shortcut buttons for products, prices, or how to order. Our article on using LINE OA Rich Menu walks through it.
When should you separate your shop account from personal LINE
Simple signs: you start replying late, forget to answer some people, or spend minutes scrolling to find one customer's chat. That means your customer count has outgrown a personal account. Moving to an official account does not mean abandoning existing customers, simply inviting new ones to the shop account first, then setting up a system the whole team can share.
Costs and message quota in brief
Per the official page, a new official account receives 300 free broadcast messages per month, and you can purchase additional packages yourself. There is also Premium ID for businesses that want a dedicated account name, and chat packages that add chat tags, notes, and longer chat history. Our LINE OA message quota article summarizes the details.
Connect it to a unified inbox so the team can help
An official account solves the channel problem, but when several teammates answer chat at the same time, the tool that helps is connecting LINE OA to a unified inbox, bringing LINE and website chat into one screen with clear chat assignment per person, which we cover in our article on assigning chats to your team. When payment time comes, the system can check transfer slips in the same chat window.
Getting-started checklist
- Register an official account and manage it via Official Account Manager on web or app
- Set the account name and profile picture to match the shop, complete the shop information
- Write a new-customer greeting message with a link to products or ordering instructions
- Build a Rich Menu so customers can find key information themselves
- Send a first broadcast to your current followers
- Plan a monthly message quota that fits your customer volume
Frequently asked questions
Does registering a LINE OA cost anything?
A new official account gets 300 free broadcast messages per month per the official page, and you can buy additional packages yourself. Our LINE OA message quota article summarizes it in plain language.
Do I have to move all existing customers over at once?
No need to rush. Start by inviting active customers to the official account, then update your signage and posts to point to the shop account instead of your personal LINE.
What is the biggest difference from a personal LINE account?
An official account ships with selling tools: automatic greetings, broadcasts to followers, coupons, and reward cards, none of which a personal account offers.
How do I let the team answer chat together?
Connect the official account to a unified inbox and assign chats to each person. There is a free 14-day trial with no credit card required.
One official account, one greeting message set, and a menu customers can tap are enough to move from scattered chats to a selling system the whole team can run.